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I’m having one of those late afternoons/early evenings where everything in the world is getting under my skin. Which means it’s time to peel the shrimp I bought earlier and pull the cork on a nice bottle of white.

What’s bugging me? WHAT’S BUGGING ME, YOU ASK? Let me count the ways:

Never have I been so glad to be unconnected from the worst of political noise than when I watch something like this, Trevor Noah’s Daily Show interview with some vile twat named Tomi Lahren. Ten minutes was enough to send me around the bend to Bitchytown.

Statnews is another nonprofit news outlet, like Bridge, concentrating on health-care news. From what I’ve seen, they’re pretty good. This story, about a seemingly warm reception to anti-vaccination activists by the Trump campaign, didn’t give me hope for the future of science, however:

Public health experts said it’s unlikely Trump will pack federal agencies with activists who would change the recommended childhood vaccine schedule or otherwise steer shifts in federal vaccination policy. The evidence that vaccines are safe and effective is so overwhelming, they said, that such a move would prompt a huge outcry from scientists and many politicians on both sides of the aisle.

But experts said there could be a cultural impact of having a doubter in the Oval Office.

Those who seek to undercut trust in vaccines “see in Donald Trump a fellow traveler — someone who, like them, is willing to basically ignore scientific studies and say, ‘This is true. Vaccines cause autism because I believe it’s true,’” said Dr. Paul Offit, the head of the infectious diseases department at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Mr. Trump, while offering a carrot through the state incentives, also held an implicit stick: the threat of pulling $5 billion to $6 billion in federal contracts from Carrier’s parent, United Technologies. Mr. Trump and his team were well aware that the amount United Technologies stood to lose in those contracts dwarfed the estimated $65 million Carrier sought to save by moving to Monterrey from Indiana.

Man, whoever took that video of the staff meeting where the bad news was announced ought to be generously bonused, because that shit was BANK for this company.

I”m so old (how old are you?) I’m so old I remember when Republicans argued against this sort of micromanagement. I’m so old I remember Indiana politicians and editorial writers howling about the auto-industry bailout. Obama was meddling in the free market! Don’t pick winners and losers! Let the Invisible Hand lift its Terrible Swift Sword and enact Creative Destruction! And so on. Today? Crickets from the more honest ones, outright lying from the real propagandists.

I also remember, when Bill Clinton dared to suggest the American public was getting “two for the price of one” because he had such a smart wife, conservatives howled. They howled about how no one voted for her, and first ladies should stick to their knitting and advocate safe causes like Nature and Education and so forth. This belief was of course suspended when Michele Obama’s cause was childhood obesity, and every cafeteria menu was defended like the national cuisine of Italy, but never mind that. So what do I read in Politico today? Ivanka Trump plans to play a part in daddy’s administration. And not a small one, either:

Ivanka, 35, Trump’s avatar among the moneyed left-wing elite, is now poised to be the first “first daughter” in modern history to play a larger public role than the first lady. And she’s positioning herself exactly as she did that weekend — as a bridge to moderates and liberals disgusted and depressed with the tone and tenor of the new leader of the free world.

And the ambitious daughter, who once plotted her career around international brand domination, is planning to take on an even heavier lift. Ivanka wants to make climate change — which her father has called a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese — one of her signature issues, a source close to her told Politico. The source said Ivanka is in the early stages of exploring how to use her spotlight to speak out on the issue.

You can see, perhaps, why I’m a bit testy. Time to peel the shrimp. Have a nice weekend, all.

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99 responses to “Peeling and pulling.”

Deborah said on December 1, 2016 at 7:29 pm

I just watched that Trevor Noah video with the vile twat and all I could think was that Noah just gave her a larger platform. What good did that do?

The other day Little Bird and I stopped in at Ross to look for some kitchen supplies for Abiquiu. LB saw a cute dress on one of the racks and lo and behold it was an Ivanka Trump brand and right next to the label was a made in China tag. Yeah, cry me a river.

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alex said on December 1, 2016 at 7:46 pm

I think the Trump camp figured out that Ivanka could play Good Cop to Donald’s Bad Cop during the campaign with her bullshitty pro-working woman child care schtick, and it wouldn’t surprise me if a bunch of chumps fell for it just like the ones who are paying $10K for the cheezoid bracelet she wore on 60 Minutes. Even Noam Chomsky couldn’t have predicted that progressivism would be coopted by a bottle blonde with a two-digit IQ and a boutique on Fifth Avenue.

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Jason T. said on December 1, 2016 at 9:04 pm

Mr. Trump, while offering a carrot through the state incentives, also held an implicit stick: the threat of pulling $5 billion to $6 billion in federal contracts from Carrier’s parent, United Technologies.

This is textbook fascism.

In case any of us were still wondering whether Trump is a fascist. I mean, I’m not, but some people might be.

As much as I like to see a big multinational corporation — especially one that’s screwing its workers — fall on its face, this is chilling.

But, you know, Hillary Clinton had a private email server, so they’re exactly the same.

It would be interesting to see how it turns out if Trump ever carries through on a threat to take contracts away from a company which had lawfully won them, or interferes in the awarding of contracts. Of course it doesn’t look like obeying the law will be a major concern for the Trump administration. The more I see and hear, the worse the next four years looks. What I’m afraid of is that it will be even worse than my worst fears.

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Jason T. said on December 1, 2016 at 9:16 pm

Like Mark P., I feel we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.

Remember, this cafone isn’t even in office yet. All the American people have done is light the fuse — the dynamite doesn’t go off until Jan. 20.

About our only hope is that if El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago actually does something like yank a contract from a federal vendor because he got his boxers in a bunch, the company sues, and sues big. If his administration gets tangled up in enough big giant lawsuits, his tepid support in Congress will evaporate pretty quickly.

And then again, if we have another 9/11 style attack — and I’d hate to take odds on that — there will be all this public pressure to “support our troops and our president” and who knows what will happen then?

Someone promise to wake me before the Reichstag burns.

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Suzanne said on December 1, 2016 at 9:45 pm

Like you Jason, I found Trump’s statements in Indy today chilling. He said he won’t allow corporations to leave the country, no, he won’t allow that. I thought the same thing: Textbook fascism.
The only saving grace might be that he doesn’t understand what fascism is and is just mouthing off like usual. He reminds me a lot of an an ADD relative of mine who just says stuff and who, I believe, does not pay any attention to what’s coming out of his mouth half the time.

And Ivanka’s going to be running the business, too. Remember when everybody in the media was calling for the Clinton Foundation to be shut down because of the conflict of interest problems if Hillary got elected? Good times.

It’s a tough call: Sessions, DeVos, Price, or Mnuchin? Which takes the prize as the most awful nominee? When Trump said “drain the swamp”, he meant, so that he could find all the vile creatures at the bottom and put them in his administration.

(Back from DC. Will write up my visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture at some point.)

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Dexter said on December 2, 2016 at 2:07 am

“…these jobs are goin’, boys
And they ain’t comin’ back.
To my hometown
To MY HOME -town…”
~ Bruce Springsteen-

Unless the parent company goes along with the game, the illusion, the goddam CON.
It’s the same mentality and manipulation tactics the politician used on Li’l Alex in “A Clockwork Orange” at the end of the film. Make a good show, tell them what a good deal they got, jolly good show! And then the truth comes out and the layoffs come a few at a time at Carrier/U.T. Did you notice how Trump was downright adamant on his stance of moving work and workers and workplaces anywhere in the USA borders? Right to Work states, yas suppose?

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Sherri said on December 2, 2016 at 2:42 am

I still wonder if Trump knows that Pakistan and India have a border dispute and nuclear weapons.

Let’s see, Hillary was excoriated for her emails by Trump… now David Petraeus, who pleaded guilty to passing classified information to his lover, is being considered for Trump’s Secretary of State? Hillary was excoriated for cozying up to Goldman Sachs, and Trump picks a former Goldman Sachs guy for Secretary of the Treasury.

There are two words that every con keeps in his holster right next to his metal death penis, “That’s different”. What about the auto bailout, “That’s different”. No need to explain what’s different, just say “that’s different” and clam up.

Oh, ROGirl, don’t get me started on Petraeus. Hillary Clinton unintentionally passed classified information through unclassified channels to someone who almost certainly had the clearance and need to know, and she should be in jail. Petraeus knowingly brought classified information out of a secure area with the intention of making it known to someone without clearance so that she could make it public. And the most appropriate place for him is in Donald Trump’s cabinet. Oh, wait. I see now. The most appropriate place for him really is in Trump’s cabinet.

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Peter said on December 2, 2016 at 9:22 am

I don’t know what the problem is in threatening to withhold government work if Carrier moves jobs out of the country. I would have preferred they keep to that line and forget about the tax incentives – I would have liked to see if Trump would have made good on his threat.

The government imposes many conditions on vendors – and I think they’re all good. If you really want work from a particular client, you’re going to do what they ask you to do.

My hypocrisy crisis for the day: So Trump picks a former Marine general for defense, and it turns out the guy was the one who told Donald that torture isn’t all that. The general is known for pushing his troops to engage and be friendly with the locals. If Obama had put this guy in charge you could imagine the howling that would have occurred. Now, it’s “the right man to bring the department back to where it belongs”. Oy.

The first time I heard of Tomi Lahren, it was under a click bait headline like “This something just schooled Obama on [some issue]”. I clicked and listened and well, I guess the definition of Schooled is a bit fluid.

This past Tuesday, I burned a few PTO (‘paid time off’ – vacation hours) to go to an 11:30 am school board ‘work session’, which was surprisingly reassuring. The room was full of administrators and our (marvelous!)superintendent and her cabinet, and the one new board member (who takes office next month), and at least one member of the general public (me!)

It was two hours of specific, focused discussion of district goals, initiatives to reach those goals, statistical review of progress toward those goals thus far, and discussion of how the state’s rules & guidelines & mandates are currently in flux (not even to mention what Uncle Sam might do, in the coming year).

Our superintendent is herself on a state-level committee, so there’s at least one bright beam of light offering them a reality check…but of course changes are certainly coming.

Still, it was reassuring to see so many intelligent, focused people simply ‘getting on with it’, and it made me fell at least 80% better than before the meeting.

That said, I watched the president-elect giving his Cincinnati speech last night, and I was genuinely put off by it. Y’know that song “Is that all there is?” – that’s how I really felt.

The only thing our new president (and his army of lip-flappers on talk radio….and presumeably their real-deal Trump-voting listeners)handles worse than losing –

is winning!!

Why on Earth would the guy attack the press again (“Liars!” as he points to them), and encourage chants of “LOCK HER UP”, regarding his defeated opponent?

By way of saying – on balance, I’m happier right now than I would have been, had I not gone to our local school board’s work session

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alex said on December 2, 2016 at 10:59 am

Randy, in all fairness to Trudeau, Canadian schools probably aren’t under any political pressure to teach anti-Castro propaganda. Or, for that matter, to gloss over or ignore the far worse dictators who have received our country’s blessings and financial support. Or, for that matter, to teach that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery. Trudeau most certainly didn’t have the same high school history class that we had.

That said, I don’t have a lot of patience with naive socialist ideologues who don’t see any problem with Castro’s authoritarianism. As I’ve said before, I’ve met a few people whose intellectual development somehow got arrested in freshman sociology class and they aren’t much different than people I knew who read Ayn Rand as teen-agers and still embrace her today as old farts.

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Deborah said on December 2, 2016 at 11:10 am

Jolene, thanks for reminding me that Obama is still our president.

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Deborah said on December 2, 2016 at 11:17 am

Alex, when I was in junior high in Miami, one year, I think it was 7th grade we had a course that was divided up into thirds, three months we studied civics, three months it was something else that I can’t remember and three months of communism. But the teachers had to pledge that they wouldn’t say anything good about communism. I remember a lot about the communism part, it stuck with me, I thought it was fascinating. The rest of that course I can’t remember anything at all, except the title of the one was civics.

I’m so old I remember when the wives of presidents who were bumbling incompetents, or worse, were supposed to be moderating influences, voices of reason, etc. See: Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush. It was all bullshit. I guess Ivanka is taking on that role, now that Melania won’t be living in the White House.

Alex, Trudeau’s father was one of the few Western leaders to visit Cuba in the 70’S. There is an odd romantic notion fostered only by the Trudeau family and college freshmen exploring the ideological space.

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nancy said on December 2, 2016 at 12:06 pm

I read somewhere that Fidel was a pallbearer at Pierre Trudeau’s funeral, although I think it was just a tweet and hence, not credible yet. Maybe that explains the soft heart of his son.

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brian stouder said on December 2, 2016 at 12:07 pm

And here’s another bit of news that – to me – trumps the national thunderclouds, all to hell:

The driver market for the 2017 Formula 1 season has been a regular talking point on MotorSportsTalk for the past few months. ‘Silly season’, as it is affectionally known, was expected to be particularly crazy ahead of the 2017 season given the number of drivers who were going to be out of contract. Daniel Ricciardo told me in pre-season it was going to be “badass.”

But things went quiet: Max Verstappen got an early promotion to Red Bull; Kimi Raikkonen got another year at Ferrari; Sergio Perez decided to stay at Force India. By the end of the racing season, just three seats remained at Sauber and Manor.

And then Nico Rosberg dropped his bombshell.

Ahead of the FIA prizegiving in Vienna on Friday night, Rosberg announced to the world that, less than six days after being crowned World Champion, he would be ending his racing career with immediate effect.

I cannot tell you how utterly amazing I find this piece of news

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Jenine said on December 2, 2016 at 12:09 pm

@ Suzanne, that was a fascinating post by the Texas elector who is resigning rather than cast his vote for Trump. On a shallow level I am disgusted by his conclusion that the Bible tells us our leaders must be male (since the Old Testament uses ‘he’ you see). But I am glad to see him acting on his principles and laying his reasoning out for all the world to see.

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susan said on December 2, 2016 at 12:26 pm

Brian @29 – I cannot tell you how utterly amazing I find this piece of news

Having no interest or knowledge of “Formula 1,” I’m wondering why you find that so utterly amazing? You mean–and I guess one could take this for any sport winner at the top of his game–that he quit after reaching the pinnacle?

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Jakash said on December 2, 2016 at 1:16 pm

Well, Nancy, I don’t know if you consider Wikipedia any more credible than a tweet, but there’s this:

“Foreign dignitaries included Cuban President Fidel Castro, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the Aga Khan, who were honorary pallbearers together with Leonard Cohen and Trudeau’s cabinet colleague Marc Lalonde. Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, President of Greece was also in attendance.”

Brian, I’m surprised Nico Rosberg is retiring. I have a new interest in F1, inspired by my cat, Clementine. We watch English soccer games on the weekend and occasionally the game is followed by F1 racing. Clementine parks herself on the coffee table and watches the race intently. I guess the motion of the cars fascinates her. She also likes the Mecum car auctions. Since she’s a little shy we leave her favorite shows on for her so she can hang out with the family. It’s weird. I know.

At 31 years old, he could pound around for another decade, and probably win another championship or two (or three), and make boat-loads of money…but he said “pass”.

I would have been less surprised – although still stunned! – if he changed teams and tried to climb the same pinnacle (via a different path); afterall, the Mercedes F1 team has been absolutely dominant for the past few seasons, and presumably will continue to be…but to say “I’m out!” – and go on with life, doing something different…?

Wow.

Still tempted to betcha that he has a “comeback” in a year or two….but then again, who knows?

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Sherri said on December 2, 2016 at 2:44 pm

It could be that Canadian high school history classes don’t treat Castro as some uniquely horrible monstrous dictator. Canada, for example, has always maintained diplomatic relations with Cuba, and never had an embargo and allowed travel. So it’s just possible that Canadians have a different view of Castro, not colored so heavily by by the Cubans who fled Castro and by Cold War fear of godless communism.

Really, Castro was no better or worse than many a dictator the US has propped up as ally. I understand why some people would want to spit on his grave, but I don’t understand the shaming of everybody who doesn’t spit on his grave.

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Sherri said on December 2, 2016 at 2:50 pm

So, Kellyanne Conway’s take on whether the Trump campaign was a racist, sexist, xenophobic, bigoted mess is to be affronted that anyone could believe that she would ever be associated with such a campaign.

I hope the check clears, Kellyanne.

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Jolene said on December 2, 2016 at 3:10 pm

Kellyanne is near the top of my list of World’s Worst Humans. I just cannot believe that she believes the things that come out of her mouth.

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Kirk said on December 2, 2016 at 3:24 pm

Re: Rosberg hanging it up. See Jim Brown, 1965.

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Jolene said on December 2, 2016 at 3:29 pm

An exchange from an online chat with Chris Cillizza, WaPo political reporter:

Q: Media and the Campaign
Do you think the media did a good job of reporting on the actual positions of the candidates? I just wonder if people realize they voted to de-regulate the banks, or remove access to health insurance for many people or, to remove rules around clean air and water.

A: Chris Cillizza
To be frank: No matter how much policy coverage we have (and we have lots) most undecided or swing voters do not make decisions on who to vote for based on policy positions. Typically these sorts of voters are swayed by personality and tone.

So depressing to think policies and programs don’t matter, but maybe even more depressing that so many people were attracted to Trump’s personality and the tone of his campaign.

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Danny said on December 2, 2016 at 3:37 pm

Sherri, is not the crux of the matter regarding US-Cuban relations more the Cuban missile crisis than some nebulous “Cold War fear of godless communism?”

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Sherri said on December 2, 2016 at 3:38 pm

To be frank, Chris Cilizza would,rather cover tone and personality than policy and programs, if his writing is any evidence, and his answer neatly absolves him of any responsibility.

Cilizza was no Faherenthold. I’m most appalled, though, by the reporters I’ve read who still don’t regard it as their job to call out obvious lies. They think that if a Republican lies, they should get a Democratic quote rebutting, and then the reader can decide. You know, if your job doesn’t require any more than that, then you don’t seem to be adding any value. Why not just print dueling press releases?

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Suzanne said on December 2, 2016 at 3:45 pm

“….even more depressing that so many people were attracted to Trump’s personality and the tone of his campaign.”

Silly me. In order for someone to be attracted to someone’s personality, I thought that person had to have one. The fact that Trump doesn’t but just a lot of bluster is even more depressing.

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nancy said on December 2, 2016 at 3:47 pm

Sherri, your question goes to the very heart of the way lots of reporters do the job. I’ve known many who are simply paralyzed by the idea of making a value judgment like that. Seriously. They’ve been so drilled in the idea that our job is simply to present facts and let readers decide that the idea of saying “this person is lying” almost leads to a deer-in-headlights condition.

Of course, the problem is, they aren’t presenting facts, other than in the sense “this is what this person said.” A twelve year old could do that. Or, as I said, there’s no need for the intermediary in that case; who is getting anything from the reporter?

Trump is the extreme example, but not the first and only, of how this broken model of journalism has been manipulated. It’s true not just in politics, but in business and science as well. When you know that you can say anything and it won’t be challenged, except in a he said/she said manner, then anything goes.

Adding, I had previously assumed that with cutbacks, there just weren’t reporters around who were informed enough about science to be able to make critical judgments about statements in that field, and that in politics, they were too obsessed with access to challenge sources. But you’re telling me that it’s far more fundamental than that, that even when they do know enough and are willing to forgo access, they still won’t do it.

To which I again respond, why do I need you then? They should be more worried about irrelevance than making a value judgment. If they’re going to act like robots without values and judgments, then they can more easily be replaced by robots.

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nancy said on December 2, 2016 at 4:18 pm

I agree with all of it. And I’ll tell you this: There is a LOT of soul-searching going on in journalism now, because everyone pretty much understands that the rules must change because the old ones don’t work anymore. So you are starting to see stories written in a very different voice than they once were, with words and phrases like “lies,” “misleading,” “no evidence,” etc.

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Sue said on December 2, 2016 at 4:43 pm

Not that I know anything but…
I have been assuming that most journalists are being forced to hold back by those above them. If you work at a paper where the uppers won’t speak truth to power what are you supposed to do? That’s why my fury at my local paper is not generally directed at the people writing the stories.
Got my Guardian tote bag in the mail yesterday. I subscribed after they wrote that lovely in-depth Scott Walker story that should have been done by a Wisconsin paper, any Wisconsin paper. I was ridiculously pleased to get the bag and feel like I have a paper again, something I’ve missed.

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Sherri said on December 2, 2016 at 4:44 pm

The only thing I would argue is that the old rules never worked. Science coverage has been a disaster forever because of those rules and how easily they are gamed. The climate change deniers didn’t do anything new; they followed the same template the tobacco industry followed earlier. Merchants of Doubt, by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway, describes the whole process clearly.

I go off and on being completely disgusted with American newspapers, sometimes I’m in love with them and sometimes I want to throttle them. I usually read BBC and The Gaurdian to get another perspective.

As I keep saying I’m so sick of reading about the poor victimized Trump voters, I could vomit. I read somewhere today that 80,000 voters in 3 states decided the election, even though Clinton won the popular vote by over 2 million votes. Something is so disturbingly wrong with this picture.

Here’s a good piece from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on how writers and journalists need to stop with the false equivalencies: “Now is the time to resist the slightest extension in the boundaries of what is right and just. Now is the time to speak up and to wear as a badge of honor the opprobrium of bigots. Now is the time to confront the weak core at the heart of America’s addiction to optimism; it allows too little room for resilience, and too much for fragility. Hazy visions of “healing” and “not becoming the hate we hate” sound dangerously like appeasement. The responsibility to forge unity belongs not to the denigrated but to the denigrators. The premise for empathy has to be equal humanity; it is an injustice to demand that the maligned identify with those who question their humanity.”

This is from Richard Rovere’s bio of Joe McCarthy, the politician whom Trump resembles most closely IMO:

[B]ecause McCarthy was a true innovator, because he lied with an unprecedented boldness, because he invented new kinds of lies–even those newspapers that were willing to expose him found that they lacked the technical resources. If he was to be called a liar, someone had to call him a liar. The American press was simply not set up so that it could feature a “McCARTHY LIES” story alongside a “McCARTHY SAYS” story.

Maybe that explains Trump’s phone call to Taiwan? Maybe he doesn’t realize that China would be pissed, or thought that would be a good idea. Show China what a tough guy he is. All fun and games until the missles start flying.

To be fair, Cillizza would be the first to tell you that his work at the Post focuses on horserace politics. It can be frustrating, but his reporting focuses on who is succeeding at the game of gaining power, not on who is honest, who is morally right, or who has the best ideas for America or the world.

He says constantly–and he is right–that there are other people at the Post who are doing those other jobs. For instance, when Fahrenthold was digging into Trump’s charitable giving, he wasn’t paying attention to polls or the machinations of campaign operatives. Robert Costa stayed close to the churning Trump campaign and wrote lots of interesting stories about who had Trump’s ear, what that meant for what emerged as policy–to the extent that there was any. Lots of other reporters showed up frequently in Trump coverage, perhaps with less focus on specific angles or topics.

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Jolene said on December 2, 2016 at 9:00 pm

Have just come across this article by Susan Glasser, who is the editor of Politico. Haven’t read it all yet, but it starts off promisingly, focusing on the shocking reality that, no matter what anyone reported about Trump, many of the people who voted for him simply did not care.

That a person with an extensive record of lying and cheating in business, multiple bankruptcies, sexual libertinism and adultery, shifting policy positions, failure to comply with political norms such as releasing his taxes, and demonstrable ignorance on many issues could succeed is hardly a failure of journalism.

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Deborah said on December 2, 2016 at 9:09 pm

For the last couple of years LB and I have participated in the Little Drummer Boy challenge. This year is the first that I’ve lost this early. Today we heard a version of The Little Drummer Boy on the PA system at TJMaxx. It’s only Dec 2nd. I was astounded to lose so early. The challenge for those who don’t know is to see how far into the Xmas season you can go without hearing that particular piece. It’s so twee, I thought we’d be past it but no, it seems to be coming back.

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Sue said on December 2, 2016 at 9:21 pm

David C., this is what happens when a president can’t be bothered with boring briefings.

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Charlotte said on December 2, 2016 at 9:37 pm

Went out for drinks with one of my dearest friends last night, who ghosted Hillary’s autobiography Living History. Heartbreak. She’s doing a new book right now with someone who was supposed to be on the dias with Hillary at Javitz that night — and we have other friends from here who were there. None of us are sleeping. She’s being fitted for a teeth-grinding brace. Another journalist friend who now runs a magazine, big manly-man guy fessed up he’d been up since 4 am the other day. It’s NOT okay.

Everyone I know is just running trips back and forth to Standing Rock to keep themselves sane.

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Suzanne said on December 2, 2016 at 9:47 pm

Without even reading the article Jolene, I’d agree with your assessment. Trumpsters are the result of all these years of Limbaugh & Hannity & Fox spewing near truths and outright lies along with the constant drumbeat of the mainstream media being biased. No matter how in depth the major media outlets report, it isn’t likely to matter. Trumpsters don’t read or listen to it because they’ve been told it will rot their brains and lead them astray. They know the proper sources to get their information from, they don’t want to listen to anything else, especially if it might make them question their beliefs. That would be wrong.
In the past few weeks I mentioned to my mother and several other family members who are nearing retirement age that I thought Paul Ryan’s Medicare revision plan scared me. Not one of them knew anything about it. Not one.

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Sherri said on December 2, 2016 at 9:49 pm

Since my default state is glass half empty and pissed off, I’m used to feeling like this. My husband, though, is freaking out. I’ve done my best to give him lol the tips I know for coping with depression and anxiety and fear and grief, but of course, there is no simple solution.

I read an article about a Trump voter regretting her choice after Trump named Mnuchin as his Treasury Secretary, because Mnuchin’s company screwed her over on her mortgage. Apparently she didn’t notice that Mnuchin was Trump’s finance chair during the campaign. Guess she believed all that self-financing shit.

Meanwhile I read about Trump supporters in Ohio who were blown away by the Carrier deal. The details don’t matter to them; they hear “Trump kept jobs from going to Mexico” and wonder how much more he’ll be able to do once he’s actually in office.

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Jolene said on December 2, 2016 at 11:23 pm

As we all know, Clinton won the popular vote by a large margin and lost in the swing states by only 80,000 votes out of nearly 128 million votes cast. That outcome is both a source of comfort and a source of outrage–comfort because it means we’re not alone and the world might not be as f’ed up as it seems and outrage because, damn, why couldn’t all those smart people working for HRC and HRC herself win a few more votes.

It also means that almost all analysis of what happened is both credible and irrelevant. The final outcome was so close that almost anything might have made the difference in pushing DJT over the top.

Sleeping has been a problem for me too. I woke at 3:30 this morning and never got back to sleep. I often lie in bed staring up at the ceiling with my heart beating like it’s trying to break out of my chest. Even though it was sixteen years ago, I know I didn’t feel this way when W was selected as President. I don’t think anyone back then had to ask if he would ever use nuclear weapons. They knew and I knew the answer would be “oh, hell no”. They felt the need to ask Trump, and he said more or less “well, why not?”. I don’t know what this crackpot is going to do. All this stress can’t be good for me. Mary seems to be able to pretend it isn’t happening, but I can’t seem to manage that. Fortunately, I’m incredibly busy at work, so Monday to Friday for ten hours a day, I’m able to mostly forget. When I’m alone with my thoughts, I’m a wreck.

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Suzanne said on December 3, 2016 at 6:55 am

David C, I veer from hoarding every dime so I can make it through the next few years or, if needed, make it to Canada to thinking why not live it up and spend it all! What difference does it make? We’ll all be blown to bits by nuclear war or we’ll end up in camps or prison for speaking out against the anointed small-handed blondish one. So eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die!

It’s not a fun roller coaster.

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Deborah said on December 3, 2016 at 9:37 am

When I was a kid I was sort of obsessed with nuclear devastation. We actually had duck and cover rehearsals in school, we talked about it a lot. I lived in Miami during the Cuban missle crisis, every time I heard an airplane I cringed. I hadn’t felt like that for a long time, but the feeling is back in a different way. It’s not that I think there’s going to be a nuclear holocaust but I do have this gnawing feeling that something dreadful is going to happen sometime soon. I will start referring to this as the end times.

I’m actually happy to hear some of the NN.C community are having trouble processing this amazing turn of events. It tells me I’m not alone.

My marriage is suffering because I cannot shake the rage, the anxiety and the sense of hopelessness that has overwhelmed me since Little Lord Fauntleroy was elected. My wife continues to plead with me to get over it, to focus on all the wonderful things in our lives, but it’s so damned hard. When I think of that buffoon on the world stage –legally elected and representing me and my country– my stomach turns so sour I fear I’ll vomit. And I’m a straight white male! I cannot imagine how people of color, gays, Jews or Muslims or Hindus, recent immigrants unlucky enough to have an accent are feeling.

I have ended a couple of long-distance acquaintanceships over this election. No loss. Those who turned a blind eye toward his racism, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia and his proud embrace of ignorance and fear are not people I really want to know. . .especially when they sneer that it is “sour grapes” to be wary of this contemptible husk of humanity.

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Sherri said on December 3, 2016 at 1:02 pm

Maybe Trump’s advisers did have a plan with regards to Taiwan. They aren’t in charge yet. We have a president, and it won’t be Trump until January 20. He hasn’t even picked a Secretary of State. Rewriting long-standing foreign policy before the electors have voted is premature, to put it lightly.

And I hope, but don’t expect, that they’re thinking beyond this one move. How far are they planning to move against China? Have they thought through China’s reaction?

And then what? The question you should always be asking yourself in foreign policy.

That’s pretty much what I’m feeling, Jeff. My wife says the same thing to me, but that’s a luxury I don’t think I can afford. How can I not pay attention to what’s happening and if necessary take steps to protect us and others who may be hurt? I know the tension is probably shaving time off my life, but I don’t see any other way to go. I try to look for signs that things won’t be as bad as I fear they’ll be, but everything so far tells me it’ll be worse. I wish I could get over it. I can’t

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beb said on December 3, 2016 at 2:36 pm

When Trumpskys starting claiming there are no facts… just opinions… its time to that a deep into the bourbon.

I wish the MSM would just decide to boycott Kellyanne Conway. That woman is so full of shit and it capable of spewing it non-stop for hours at a time it comes a waste of everyone’s time. Nothing she says is ever true.

After a couple days where the press was arguing that repealing Obamacare would be too difficult and privatizing medicare too politically dangerous to congressperson up for re-election, today the party of “die granny die” is doubling down on doing it. Anything is bash some Democrats

Jeff Borden and David C., if you let Trump damage your marriage I will drive down to Chicago and then up to Port Washington or Sheboygan or wherever and smack you, I swear.
I mean it boys. Talk to someone, get on some medication, start a support group, run for office, join the resistance – do whatever it takes to channel your despair but don’t let Donald Trump take your wife away from you along with everything else!

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Charlotte said on December 3, 2016 at 8:42 pm

Livingston’s an odd town because we’re both an actual small town in Montana, and a town where a lot of people go forth and do fairly connected things in the world. At the Christmas Craft fair this morning, was talking to a friend who had been in the green room at the Javitz center as it all went down, and who has also just come back from making a delivery run to Standing Rock. “Fuck it,” she said “The Revolution is here and I’m all in … and it’s happening out there on that frozen prairie. I’ve never felt as patriotic as I did driving back through that snowstorm yesterday.” And this is not someone who, despite being connected enough to wind up back stage the night HIllary lost, not someone who has ever been political.

So take heart, I guess? I’m still knitting hats — and while I’m not waking up at 3am, I am having epic chase-and-kill bad guy dreams. Thanks Cheeto — haven’t had those since I was a kid….

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alex said on December 3, 2016 at 9:19 pm

Wish I were a writer for SNL. I’d have Trump drunk dialing Queen Elizabeth. And then Tweeting a he-said she-said.

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alex said on December 3, 2016 at 9:21 pm

Alec Baldwin and Helen Mirren.

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alex said on December 3, 2016 at 9:24 pm

Alec Baldwin and Tracy Ullman!

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Sue said on December 3, 2016 at 9:41 pm

Much as I love Helen, I’ve got to go with Tracy on that one, alex.
Also, Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey in a Sarah Palin ‘Ambassador to Russia’ sketch.

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Deborah said on December 4, 2016 at 12:04 pm

LB and I went out to Abiquiu yesterday and spent the night there. It really helps to get away where there is no TV or Internet. We made chili on the wood stove, drank some bourbon and then came back to Santa Fe this morning after stopping for breakfast along the way. Very relaxing.

Alex, love your SNL idea.

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Heather said on December 4, 2016 at 12:49 pm

As if my worldview wasn’t grim enough right now, this morning I found out that some of my friends are getting divorced, apparently. They had the most loving wedding and were one of the best couples I knew. I gathered they were having some issues due to one person’s ongoing health issues, but I didn’t know they were at the breaking point. Then another friend got canned from her job on Thursday. And I’ve been sitting at home feeling lonely and sorry for myself the last few days. Kind of a kick in the pants reminder that we all have our challenges and mine are not larger than anyone else’s.

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alex said on December 4, 2016 at 1:10 pm

Just got our two acres of ass-deep leaves finally on the burn piles and smoldering before the first snow of the season gets here within the next hour. My jeans are full of wild raspberry thorns. I mowed over the bed where my garlic grows and the air was full of it; new shoots were coming up already as if it were springtime. And I have rosemary galore that I need to go down and harvest before the polar vortex moves in. Maybe I’ll transplant it into some pots. Gorgeous stuff.

There’s nothing more self-nurturing than making a nice dinner during the first snow of the season, perhaps a pot of soup. Maybe I can find a recipe that utilizes rosemary. There was a buttload of Salad Burnet too which I’ve never figured out what to do with.

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beb said on December 4, 2016 at 2:29 pm

me @82: rather less coherent than imagined. I meant that it was pass the time of drinking wine to deal with the depression of Trump and time to hit the hard stuff — and hit it hard.

The claim that there are no facts begins to make sense in the content of he said/she said journalism. If the only thing that matters is what gets reported in the media and reporters are afraid to fact-check/ call out liars than, yes, there are no “facts.”

Access is a big boondoggle for reporters. It’s something they really want and to keep it they begin to report any piece of garbage the “Big Man” drops in their lap. Reporters should consider all politicians as their enemy and never suck up to them. Better sources are disgruntled staff members who’d spill the beans for a couple beers.

Finally, your family is your most precious possession. One should never take one’s anger and frustration on them. Sometimes the best thing you can do is bottle all that inside and leave your family in peace.

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Sue said on December 4, 2016 at 4:26 pm

alex, I spent yesterday cutting back blackberry canes. BTW, anyone who tells you that “Illini” blackberries are well-behaved (as blackberries go) is lying. Way late this year because I don’t like to cut them until it’s cold enough to go dormant, and this late, late fall meant that there was a possibility of growth right up to last week. I piled them in a 8 foot long, 5 foot high pile, now there’s nice habitat for various critters this winter – food, shelter, protection.

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Deborah said on December 4, 2016 at 4:41 pm

The NYT has very clear and concise explanation of the Taiwan/China situation. I was confused about the history and the role of the US. Now I get it. What’s sad is that many of the Trump supporters won’t learn more about it because they don’t seem to be, for the most part, curious people. I’m reminded of some of the things George Lakoff described regarding direct causation vs systematic causation. Systematic causation is much more complex so harder to understand. Is Twimp really that dumb, or are he and his honchos up to something extremely risky? That seems to be the question that has everyone wondering.

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Deborah said on December 4, 2016 at 5:42 pm

So it sounds like there was victory at Standing Rock.

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Sherri said on December 4, 2016 at 5:48 pm

Trump is not dumb, really, in that he is capable of learning things if cares to and formulating plans and all that. He is uninformed and incurious to a remarkable degree, and not as smart as he thinks he is. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, he’s easily manipulated by anyone who feeds his ego, and people with an agenda can take advantage of all those factors to accomplish much in his name. Think a steady stream of Iran-Contra style projects, rogue or semi-rogue groups running their own policy shops with Trump having at best a vague awareness of what’s going on, or certainly not an awareness of the implications.

There will probably be competing, even contradictory such groups, and the infighting will be vicious and cutthroat. And anybody could lose Trump’s loyalty at any time for the most trivial of offenses.

The house is fragrant with rosemary. Making chicken noodle soup with a rosemary-steeped broth. I threw in about four big stalks (had to bend them to get them into the stock pot) and pulled them out after the stock was sufficiently flavored. This may be a dry run for a dinner party I’m throwing next Saturday.

One other herb that’s plentiful right now is tarragon. We had it in a pot and it flowered and was absolutely gorgeous. It’s more tender, so we brought it inside a few weeks ago. I used it in my Thanksgiving cooking. It’s always good on pork tenderloin, so that might be my main course.

Had a wonderful spinach salad last night at the Rib Room with steak on it. The raspberry vinaigrette and bleu cheese crumbles and juice from the medium-rare steak melded into the perfect sauce and we asked for an extra loaf of bread with which to mop it up. For us oldsters, salads are really the best way to eat steak. My worn teeth get much better traction on rare steak when it’s accompanied by some roughage. Maybe I’ll whip up something like that. I have all week to think about it.

We’re having a young couple over who are buying one of our old cars, a beloved 1989 Honda Accord. We just haven’t had the time or inclination to restore it like we’d like to do. They are Honda fanatics who know how to restore old Hondas and in fact helped us save this one when the timing belt blew. We thought the engine was ruined but John told us that this particular engine is immune from damage and he pulled the engine, changed the timing belt and voila! The car has only 120K miles but has developed other issues. He knows how to handle all of it, so he might as well, since we’re not getting any use out of it lately. One toy is enough, and that would be our Pontiac Solstice, which needs a lot of pampering. It has a much more fragile constitution than the Honda. We aren’t motorcyclists, but it’s a great car with which to accompany my partner’s family members when they go out on one of their Harley caravans in the summertime.

I think of the Solstice as a mid-aughts version of the Fiero. A total piece of shit but pretty damned amazing when you see an old one intact and in impeccable condition.